Phillip Blackmon

Army SSG Phillip Blackmon, Explosive Ordnance Technician (EOD), assigned to both the 706th EOD Company, Schofield, Barracks, Hawaii and the 760th EOD Company, Ft. Dix, New Jersey completed 2 combat deployments in Iraq, worked alongside the U.S. Secret Service and provided security for Presidents and NFL football games all over the United States.

SSG Blackmon currently holds the record for successfully diffusing more than 150,000 tons of unexploded ordnance while conducting combat operations in Iraq for 48 months.

In 2004, while conducting route clearance missions in the streets of Mosul, Iraq, Blackmon had an 1,000 pound Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonate 3 feet from vehicle door. The result of the blast left Blackmon unconscious with two broken shoulders, broken arms, a broken hip, fractured vertebrae, broken neck, schrapnel lacerations as well as many other injuries.

Blackmon was involved, at extreme close range, in more than 600 IED explosions.

He was awarded a Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, Senior Explosive Ordnance Disposal Medal and SF Hero of the Year. Blackmon, his wife and son were awarded a home in Beaumont, Texas.